shinyglorchan | DCU Fanfic: First Robin: Stephanie Brown

Title: First Robin: Stephanie Brown
Fandom: DCU
Character(s): Steph, Bruce, social worker, mentions of Batgirl, Cluemaster, & Mrs. Brown
Pairing(s): N/A
Word Count: 1373
Genre: general/family
Rating:PG-13/T
Notes: So, I had this idea of putting the Robins outta order and seeing what happened. Essentially, I just decided to start with 'Five times Dick wasn't the first Robin,' and just go from there, but the Steph one got long, so I'm gonna post each part separate. XD Maybe they'll be their own 'verses or just all one-shots, we'll see. Now, to Steph's origin story! XD (Steph's costume design: here.)
Link: N/A

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her dad needed to be stopped, and Spoiler had been the way to do that. Well, until Batman caught up with her, then she was told to stop this, even when she had helped Batman put her father away. Steph didn't understand why she couldn't be a crime-fighter too. There was a Batgirl, after all, and Steph didn't see why Spoiler couldn't help out too.

So, even with her reason for fighting crime behind bars, Steph still went out every night because she wanted to impress the Batman, and sometimes she even did, but she wasn't quite as smart as him or Batgirl. That only made her want to try harder. She knew she was starting to grow on Batman a bit, she just knew it.

Then her father broke out of jail, and all hell broke loose since he broke out some heavy hitters with him. Batman and Batgirl took care of the heavy hitters while Spoiler went after her father. She subdued him and everything. Steph had caught him, all by herself, and she tied him up and waited for the authorities to arrive.

Smiling under her mask when the cops took the Cluemaster away, she looked up to see Batman. She used a grapple to get up to the rooftop he was on and waited for him to say something. Steph wasn't great at the waiting game, but she was getting better, and Batman didn't make her wait for long.

“You did well tonight,” he stated, and she beamed even more.

That night she headed home, but once she slipped into her room, Steph knew something was off. She didn't know what, so she quickly changed into her pajamas and shoved her Spoiler costume under her bed. She checked her mom's room and didn't find her there. She frowned as she padded down the stairs, just hopping her mom wasn't out finding an illegal way to get her pill fix since her new doctor had cut her off.

Once she was downstairs, she started to worry. The lights were on in the kitchen, and Steph ran over to find her mom slumped over the kitchen table, an empty pill bottle. Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to shake her mom awake. When that didn't work, she searched frantically for a pulse. She found none, and all the adrenaline she had from tonight's patrol poured out of her as her knees buckled as a sob came from her throat.

Time was passing so slowly, and she hadn't even noticed that Batman had slipped into her house. She probably wouldn't have noticed at all if he hadn't placed a hand on her shoulder. That was when the real sobs started, and she clung to Batman like a life preserver.

The rest of the night was a blur. She hadn't called the cops, but they had come anyway. The paramedics took her mom's body away, and when the cops wanted to ask her questions, Batman gruffly told them to let the girl be. Of course, they listened to Batman, to a point. They had to take her away since her mother was dead, and her father was in jail. She was pretty much an orphan in their eyes.

Spending the night with social services hardly phased Steph. She barely noticed and barely slept. It was the next morning that really confused her though. They told her that there was someone looking to adopt her. Steph was pretty sure there should have been other family members contacted first or something, but considering her mother's brother had tried to molest her, and her dad's family wasn't much better, she'd take her chances with whoever wanted to adopt her.

Then her life just got weirder when she came to the meeting room to find Bruce Wayne standing there. Steph stared for a moment because why was he here? She glanced around, obviously looking for the person who was supposed to adopt her, and it just a got a chuckle from Bruce.

“Stephanie Brown, I'm here to be your foster parent,” Bruce told her, and she just stared, mouth agape.

“Huh, why?” she blurted out before backtracking. “I mean...”

“I have my reasons,” he answered before turning to the social worker. “Has the paperwork gone through?”

The social worker straightened up. “I'll go check on it right away, Mr. Wayne!” he exclaimed before he scrambled for the other room, pretty much forgetting about Steph completely.

Steph huffed, looking up at Bruce. “You think you're real important, huh?” she asked, not liking this guy, or at least, she didn't like the way he had power over people.

Bruce just gave her a smile before leaning down to whisper in her ear. “Play along, Spoiler,” he stated gruffly, in a voice she definitely recognized.

“Ba-” she cut herself off when Bruce gave her a silencing look. “Um, okay. Right.”

Then the fake playboy grin came back as the social worker came back with the paperwork. “So, you'll be my ward?”

The social worker turned his head to look at Steph expectantly; he obviously didn't want her to say no. “Yeah, I'm okay with it,” she murmured.

With that, the social worker handed Bruce the papers, and Steph left with Bruce for Wayne Manor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wow, this is amazing!” Steph announced as she looked around the Batcave. “Man, I never would have guessed Bruce Wayne is actually Batman.”

“That is the point, Stephanie,” Bruce stated from the Batcomputer, a little humor in his tone.

Steph laughed a little bit as she headed towards Bruce. “That's true,” she said, pausing as something hit her. “I think I should have a new name.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow, encouraging her to continue. “I mean, Spoiler was part of my old life,” she murmured. “And Spoiler was pretty much all about my dad. I want my new identity to be free of that.”

With a nod, Bruce turned back to his computer. “You'll need a new costume. Would you like me to design it?” he asked.

Steph scrunched up her nose at that. “No offense, Bruce, but I don't wanna look like a Bat,” she told him.

“Batgirl pulls it off well,” he answered.

“I don't want to get mistaken for Batgirl,” she stated firmly, making a face. “I wanna be known. I'm not just an occasionally bright shadow.”

Bruce continued to type away on his computer. “Not a Bat then. Maybe a Bird?” he offered. “Bright enough?”

“Hmm,” she hummed, thinking. “Oh! I know, give me a pen and some paper?”

Pulling out a pencil from a drawer and some paper from the printer, Bruce handed them to her. Steph took them with a quick 'thank you,' and she flopped onto the floor and started sketching. She could feel Bruce watching her from the corner of his eye, his typing never ceasing as she sketched out her new uniform.

With a sound of triumphant, Steph jumped up and held up the sketch. “How does Batman and Robin sound?” she asked jovially.

Bruce took the sketch taking in the purple shades, brown boots, gloves, and cape, and the bright red tunic of the costume. “Purple isn't quite a Robin color, Stephanie.”

Steph huffed. “It's eggplant, not purple, and it'll be muted, and it's only the inside of the cape, see?” she told him. “So, what do you think?”

“Workable,” Bruce answered, adding his own subtle changes with the pencil for armor and such. “May I ask why Robin?”

She flushed a little at that. “Well, Batgirl has the bright yellow Bat on her chest, and robins have bright red chests, so I thought I'd give her a run for her money,” she answered. “I'll grow into it!”

Bruce chuckled as he handed her back the sketch with his adjustments. “Well, Robin,” he started, “fetch Alfred, and we'll start working on getting your uniform ready.”

Steph beamed, hugging the drawing to her not-so-ample-yet chest before running for the stairs to get Alfred.